Cosmetic container7th-8th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Small ceramic vessel with a globular, petal-ribbed body glazed in cream and black, a narrow bobbin-shaped neck, and six splayed legs with an animal-head spout

Title: Cosmetic container
Place Made: Syria
Date Made: 7th-8th century
Medium: Glass, free-blown, tooled with applied decoration
Dimensions: 5 1/16 x 3 7/16 x 3 1/16 in. (12.80 x 8.70 x 7.78 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Varya and Hans Cohn
Accession Number: M.88.129.188
Classification: Glass
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Glassmaking, one of many crafts that flourished in the lands that would form the early Islamic empire in the mid-seventh through the eighth century, continued to thrive under the new faith and leadership. On that account, it is sometimes difficult to determine when and where some glasswares were made. This cosmetic container echoes the glassmaking traditions of Late Antique Syria in terms of the applied glass decoration on the flask, which is often more tube-shaped than rounded as here. The flask is supported on the back of a horse, making the piece both functional and playfully attractive. It was probably used as a container for perfume or kohl, a mixture of lead or charcoal combined with oil and used since ancient times as eyeliner.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Saldern, Axel von. Glass 500 B.C. to A.D. 1900: The Hans Cohn Collection. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1980.
Komaroff, Linda. Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005.
Pal, Pratapaditya, Thomas W. Lentz, Sheila R. Canby, Edwin Binney, 3rd, Walter B. Denny, and Stephen Markel. "Arts from Islamic Cultures: Los Angeles County Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 17, no. 6 (November/December 1987): 73-130.

Cosmetic container7th-8th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Cosmetic container
Place Made: Syria
Date Made: 7th-8th century
Medium: Glass, free-blown, tooled with applied decoration
Dimensions: 5 1/16 x 3 7/16 x 3 1/16 in. (12.80 x 8.70 x 7.78 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Varya and Hans Cohn
Accession Number: M.88.129.188
Classification: Glass
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Islamic
Curatorial Notes: Glassmaking, one of many crafts that flourished in the lands that would form the early Islamic empire in the mid-seventh through the eighth century, continued to thrive under the new faith and leadership. On that account, it is sometimes difficult to determine when and where some glasswares were made. This cosmetic container echoes the glassmaking traditions of Late Antique Syria in terms of the applied glass decoration on the flask, which is often more tube-shaped than rounded as here. The flask is supported on the back of a horse, making the piece both functional and playfully attractive. It was probably used as a container for perfume or kohl, a mixture of lead or charcoal combined with oil and used since ancient times as eyeliner.

2024
Selected Bibliography: Saldern, Axel von. Glass 500 B.C. to A.D. 1900: The Hans Cohn Collection. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1980.
Komaroff, Linda. Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2005.
Pal, Pratapaditya, Thomas W. Lentz, Sheila R. Canby, Edwin Binney, 3rd, Walter B. Denny, and Stephen Markel. "Arts from Islamic Cultures: Los Angeles County Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 17, no. 6 (November/December 1987): 73-130.